Nothing to write home about

Earlier this week I took part in my first action in a long time, against the BNP Paribas who have agreed to finance the massive Belene nuclear power plant in an earthquake-prone area in Bulgaria.

We dressed up in white suits (I’ve always wanted to do that) and unfurled our banners outside the bank’s Amsterdam office. We chanted a few slogans and gave out leaflets to passers by. It was great! But the media didn’t exactly turn up in droves, and the bank hid behind window blinds, only opening window wide enough to take a leaflet.

We weren’t the only ones - there were actions taking place in 14 countries around Europe. Hopefully there was some media coverage, and it was all over our websites. But even though everyone knows that a building a nuclear reactor in an earthquake prone zone is a Chernobyl in the making, it’s not exactly front page news.

So what’s the point? Does action really make any difference.

Well, yes, it does. I know, because I’ve been there when it did.

Back in the 90s when I was a trade unionist, I got involved in a campaign of a trade union member. Prakash was under threat of deportation, which would leave her son on his own in the UK. Prakash had married an English man but when her husband turned violent she fled the relationship. Under the law at the time, if she’d stayed with him for 12 months, she’d have been fine, but who can blame her for putting her safety and that of her son, first?

You’d have thought it would be simple, but British justice had other ideas. She went through all the legal hoops and when I got involved she was in her last stages of the appeal process. Her son was born in England and there was never any attempt to get him sent to Mauritius with his mother. I wonder where they expected him to go? Move in with his violent father, perhaps?

I saw Prakash tell her story over and over, at branch meetings, annual conference and to anyone who would listen. I stood outside Thornhill Road police station when she was arrested and put into detention even though she was reporting to the station every week as she was supposed to.

I was outside the appeal court, shouting slogans when she lost her first appeal. It was a tough time.

As things got worse the crowds of supporters dwindled, but I was determined not to give up. So I was there when her final appeal was upheld and Prakash was given the right to stay and with her son.

As an aside, I got on local television because I was the only trade union spokesperson there. What I said then was that it proves that you can make a difference, so stand up and let your voice be heard.

At times it feels like there’s no one listening. Like no one’s interested. But hold on, because if you stay the distance, you can be there to taste victory.